Description

Adelphi Paper Hangings asked the design team Brockschmidt & Coleman to create custom colorways for five historical wallpapers. Here is what inspired Bill Brockschmidt and Courtney Coleman to create the colorways.

“We have been custom-coloring Adelphi Paper Hangings since our first projects more than 20 years ago.  We recall fondly that some of our color choices initially baffled our friends at Adelphi – especially our mixing of warm and cool greens – but the papers and rooms finally won them over.  So many of our projects over the years have featured Adelphi papers, and it is truly one of our favorite design elements.  Sometimes the patterns are sympathetic to the style of the house or furniture, but other times they are selected purely for their graphic quality despite their history.

For the five custom colorways in this collection, we looked at each pattern individually with the concept of choosing colors to create a mood that had not yet been exploited.

For Florence Place Foliate, a pattern that we introduced to Adelphi after being given a remnant of a wallpaper salvaged from a Mississippi house, we noticed that in both the original pattern and the recolored versions in Adelphi’s catalog the leaves frilly borders were typically lighter than the background.   The new coloration flips the light and dark tones, so that the dark leafy outlines read as filigree.  Contrasted with hot coral and orange colors, the pattern becomes rich and mysterious.

The geological fantasy colors of some scagliola mantels on which we have been recently working inspired the deep purplish tones of Prince Rollins Marble. Whereas the catalog of Soane Diaper colorways were mostly tonal in color, resembling tooled leather or damask, we returned the foliate pattern to its botanical roots with squint-your-eyes fern colors strongly contrasting against a pale sky color background.

For Renaissance Strapwork, we were inspired by the Dutch Renaissance portraits where the richness of lace is set off against an enigmatic, shimmering black.

Since 2000, Brockschmidt & Coleman has been creating highly personalized homes inspired by a variety of architectural and decorating styles steeped in tradition, but with an eye on the present.  Even their richest rooms are edited and possess a contemporary clarity.  Courtney Coleman and Bill Brockschmidt are admittedly history nerds, and they enjoy working with artisans who preserve time-honored crafts to keep them relevant in a changing world.  Brockschmidt & Coleman are included on the Elle Décor’s A-List, and their work has been widely published, including in Elle Décor, Veranda, Architectural Digest, Traditional Home, Garden & Gun, and House Beautiful.